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Thursday, 10 December 2015

our heritage and our Center

(originally journalled Jan 31, 2014)

In its introduction, the Common Prayer Pocket Edition says (p 17) that we need to enter a "new time zone" -- I think this is what I have longed for, for so long: a place and time where I belong, a tradition, a history, a future that I share with many others. I have found it difficult to watch others revel in their heritage, when I have for so long felt I really have nothing like that "to be proud of" -- but even more -- to belong to! As the book says:

"We enter a new time zone, where it can feel like there is a 'cloud of witnesses' surrounding us, praying for us, cheering us on from eternity. It should feel like we are singing 'Holy, Holy, Holy' with all the people of God who have come before us. The past becomes bigger than our personal past. God's story becomes the lens through which we understand the present. And the future is no longer held hostage. We know how the story ends, and it is beautiful. This is the good news that transcends the nightly news. . . . The point is to keep God's story at the center of our lives."

This is what has been missing in so much of the "evangelical/protestant" liturgy and understanding. No wonder I've been feeling so lost--so without a center, so without You--because I've been without so much of Yours: Yourself and Your entire family.

It doesn't have to be about colour or race: We are a multi-hued tribe from all places and all times. With God, Jesus, Holy Spirit at our center!